Ultra Tune ad backlash, as boss defends 'attractive girls'

A NEW ad being beamed into homes across the country during the Australian Open has been criticised for being "sexist" and "implying women are completely stupid".

The 45-second commercial for Ultra Tune is so controversial, even its star boxing legend Mike Tyson has admitted it's "a little bit sexist".

But despite all this, the car service giant's executive chairman Sean Buckley has defended the skit. In fact, he says, he's had mostly positive feedback.

"There's no sexism in the ad," Mr Buckley told news.com.au.

"Is it sexism that the head (ambassador) of David Jones is Megan Gale? Is it sexism that Jennifer Hawkins is the brand ambassador for Myer? Is it sexism that Victoria's Secret has supermodels?

"We get targeted because we put some attractive girls in a commercial and we're sexist. Why single us out? Because we're a male oriented car servicing company doing something a little bit different."

The Ultra Tune boss says the ad has nothing to do with sexism. Picture: YouTube

Mr Buckley is used to dealing with backlash.

Ultra Tune's "unexpected situation" series, of which the Mike Tyson commercial is the sixth instalment, has copped criticism since its launch and in 2016 complaints saw one of the ads pulled from the airwaves.

The company didn't learn its lesson from this, continuing to feature unsuspecting women dubbed the "Rubber Girls", dressed in catsuits getting caught in tricky situations, usually because of their dopey driving, only to be rescued - in one case by Jean-Claude van Damme.

The new ad is slightly different. It shows a trio of women, two in rubber catsuits and one dressed a maid, apparently on their way to a dress up party, who come across a tiger on the road.

The driver and front seat passenger apparently fail to see the tiger and when warned by the back seat passenger run the car off the road into a nearby bush.

They are then approached by Tyson himself, who helps to move the car back to the road, before the women help him locate Francis, his beloved pet.

Since launching the ad on Channel 7 during the Australian Open and promoting via its social media accounts, Ultra Tune has received hundreds of comments from viewers weighing in.

Alongside comments that praise it as "hilarious", there are several examples of negative feedback.

The use of Mike Tyson in the campaign has been questioned. Picture: YouTube

"Blatantly overt sexism, implying women are completely stupid behind the wheel. Their ads just paint female out to be stupid," one Facebook user wrote.

"This will not be popular with women," another suggested.

As well as Ultra Tune's portrayal of women, questions have been raised about the decision to feature Tyson - a convicted sex offender - in the campaign.

"Hey Ultra Tune. Great ad campaign. Just not entirely sure that, considering the current mood and moment, convicted rapist and serial abuser was not the right guy for the job," a man commented on the company's Facebook page.

Asked about whether any more considerations should have been made about the ad considering the current focus on sexism following allegations against Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein, Mr Buckley said it was "illogical" to link his ad with the movement.

"As to Oprah and the #MeToo movement, I don't see that ad being disempowering to women. I think it's a storm in a teacup," he said.

"Maybe some of the other ads we ran might have some sexism in them, but this one certainly doesn't."

The Advertising Standards Bureau has received ‘a small number of complaints’. Picture: YouTube

Mr Buckley conceded there had been some complaints about Tyson's background, but said there had been "no complaints of sexism at all" made officially about the ad.

He said commentary about sexism came only from a "vocal minority".

"A lot of the feedback we're getting is that people are getting sick of this vocal minority standing up and trying to pretend they represent all the women around the world. This vocal minority trying to control the group is a minority group," he said.

Mr Buckley said the ad, and all had been run by the Advertising Standards Bureau and granted prime time viewing spots on free to air television with PG rating Australia-Wide.

The Advertising Standards Bureau confirmed with news.com.au a "small number of complaints" had been received about the Mike Tyson ad.

Three hundreds complaints were made about the Ultra Tune ad that featured Van Damme last year, which Mr Buckley argued represented only 0.006 per cent of the audience.